


The Same, Yet Different

by CrypticNotCoy (Reveles)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Blue-Eyed Alec Lightwood, F/M, Fluff, Funny, Hazel-Eyed Alec Lightwood, Humour, Inter-dimensional travel, M/M, Magical Mess Ups, book malec meets tv malec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reveles/pseuds/CrypticNotCoy
Summary: What happens when the TV versions of Alec and Magnus accidentally end up in their book version's loft
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Jocelyn Fairchild/Luke Garroway, Luke Garroway/Maryse Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 16
Kudos: 152





	The Same, Yet Different

**Author's Note:**

> Just gonna say that I love both book and TV Malec! Even though I do prefer the book version I really like the TV version as well. This was just a fun way for me to point out some of the many differences between them and the worlds they live in. Again, while book Malec is probably my favourite I do love both and the TV adaptation was pretty good and I did like most of the changes made! It is mainly from book Malec's POV so yeah, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Alec and Magnus were having a lazy day at the loft, for once demon activity was relatively quiet and Magnus had no clients booked for today. The couple was curled up together on their couch with Chairman Meow sleeping soundly on Alec's lap, and to be honest, Alec wasn't far off being asleep himself. There was a movie playing on the TV and the atmosphere was peaceful. Shame it couldn't last.

A black portal opened up in the middle of the room and two men fell out. Instantly, both Alec and Magnus were alert. Alec jumped to his feet, much to the dismay of Chairman Meow, and grabbed a seraph blade muttering "Gabriel," to activate it. Magnus's blue magic swirled around his hands, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Who the hell are you?" Magnus asked, his eyes narrowed threateningly

"Who are you?" retorted one of the men. He looked similar to Magnus, however his eyes were brown instead of gold-green and their pupils were round. He had the same extravagant makeup, though his clothes were darker and less sparkly than Magnus's usual attire. That being said, all Magnus was currently wearing was a pair of scarlet silk pyjama pants embroidered with dancing tigers.

"Nope, I asked first. Plus, you've portaled into MY home and somehow made it through MY wards. I think I have every right to know who you are," Magnus replied, glancing at Alec he saw that he was studying the other man, this one looked like Alec. However, his eyes were hazel instead of blue and his hair was shorter. The other man also looked a few years older, perhaps in his early twenties instead of nineteen like Alec. While Alec's skin was covered in the white scars of old runes and bore none at the moment, except for his permanent ones, this man's runes showed no signs of fading and there were no scars from old ones to be seen.

"I suppose that is fair, I'm Magnus Bane, and this is Alec Lightwood," the shorter of the two men said

Alec laughed "Yeah right. Try again,"

"You asked for our names and we gave them. I don't see the problem here," the hazel eyed man shifted his stance, standing like a solider at ease with his hands behind his back

"You can't be Alec Lightwood, and you can't be Magnus Bane," Alec said, pointing at each of the men in turn

"And why not?" maybe-Magnus asked

"Because I'm Alec Lightwood," Alec replied

"And I'm Magnus Bane," Magnus added

"What?" maybe-Alec exclaimed

"Oh... oh no," the man that claimed to be Magnus shook his head

"What do you mean oh no?" Alec asked, narrowing his blue eyes. He was still grasping the glowing seraph blade

"I mean, the spell that I just tried to do went incredibly wrong. It seems Alexander and I ended up in the wrong dimension," At this, the hazel-eyed Alec muttered something obscene

"Is there anything we can do to fix this?" he asked

"Assuming you are telling the truth, you are creating a paradox by being here. Dimensional law means that soon this paradox will correct itself, sending you back to your own dimension within a few hours," Magnus replied

"Great, just great. That means Jace will have to run the institute," the hazel-eyed Alec said

"Why would Jace be running the Institute? That's Mum's job," Alec asked, finally lowering his blade

"Wait, does she still run the Institute here?" other Alec tilted his head in confusion

"Yeah, Dad's in Alicante doing Inquisitor stuff, Izzy and Jace are only eighteen and I'm not really interested in Institute business. Sometimes I'm the interim head when Mum is needed elsewhere, but Jace and Clary will probably take over when they're older," Alec told him

"Right... well I'm the Head of the Institute in my dimension. Hang on, you said Jace was only eighteen, how old are you?" the older Alec looked at his counterpart in surprise, looking him up and down trying to guess his age

"Nineteen, nearly twenty," Alec replied coldly, not liking the way the other him was sizing him up. Especially because he didn't have a shirt on

"Huh, I'm twenty-three,"

"I assume you are still somewhere around four-hundred then?" asked Magnus, turning to his shorter counterpart

"Yeah, I do have one question though. What's it like being taller than Alec?" the other Magnus laughed

"Fun," Magnus replied, his boyfriend was by no means short but Magnus was especially tall. In his long life he had met very few people that were taller than him. "Why do you have your eyes glamoured?" Magnus only realised that it may have been a sensitive topic once the words left his mouth

"Why don't you have yours glamoured?" the question was reflected back

"Because, if these were going to make my mother hang herself and my step-father try to drown me, then I'm going to at least rock them," he replied, Magnus saw no reason to hide his mark despite the pain it had caused him in the past. He figured that if people were going make bad comments about them, then he would show them exactly the kind of power they represented

"Right," judging by the way the other Magnus shifted his feet awkwardly, Magnus figured he hid them because of the pain they caused him

During the awkward silence that ensued, Magnus sighed and waved his hand, dressing himself in tight jeans and a sequined top, spiking up his hair, applying his makeup and adding jewellery. He figured that if they were going to have guests he might as well put his makeup on. Plus, if the jeans as sweater he'd magicked onto Alec were going to lessen his counterpart's appreciative gaze, well then no one had to know.

Once he was satisfied with his outfit, he glanced up at his other dimensional counterpart, and his gaze caught on his left hand. There was a ring on the only finger Magnus had never before worn one on. Seeing that ring, Magnus was unable to stop the gasp that escaped him as emotion welled up inside him.

"You're married," he whispered

"Yes," the other Magnus replied, "Aren't you?"

"We wanted to wait, until we can get married in gold and blue. In a Shadowhunter ceremony," Alec said, taking Magnus's hand, "But we want to, as soon as we can,"

"We got married at the Institute, in gold and blue. If that offers you any hope," the older Alec said softly

"Someday," whispered Magnus, looking into his Alec's blue eyes

"Someday," Alec confirmed, "I just wish Max could be here to see it,"

"Max? Why can't Max see you two get married?" the hazel-eyed Alec asked, worry clouding his features

"Wait, in your world. How old is Max?" the taller Magnus asked warily

"Twelve, how old is he here?" questioned the other Magnus, looking worried

"He was nine," Alec said quietly

"Was?" the other Alec began to comprehend and a look of absolute horror dawned on his face

"Sebastian killed him, I was too busy fighting off the demon attack. I should have protected him," it was clear that despite all of Magnus's reasoning, Alec still blamed himself for his little brother's death

"There was no way you could have known, darling," Magnus squeezed Alec's hand, hoping to ease the pain in the blue eyes he loved so much

Over by the coffee table, the other Magnus and Alec were also wrapped up in their own little bubble.

"I can't believe it," Alec muttered

"Just be thankful that he is alive in our dimension, Alexander," Magnus replied, hugging his husband

"Yeah,"

The atmosphere of quiet hurt and comfort was quickly broken when the door to the loft swung open.

"Hey guys, the door was open so we just came in- oh, who are you?" asked Jace as he and Maryse came to a halt as they saw alternate Alec and Magnus

"It's a long story," Alec replied, giving his boyfriend's hand another squeeze, silently thanking him for his reassurances

"We have time," Maryse said, "Going by the looks on your faces it must be interesting,"

"That's an understatement," alternate Magnus laughed, "I think these two should be the ones to tell you," he gestured to this dimension's Alec and Magnus

"So basically, they're us from another dimension. The other Magnus had a spell go wrong and they ended up here, they should disappear back to their own dimension soon," Magnus explained

"Seriously? cool!" Jace exclaimed "What am I like where you're from?" he turned to the other Alec

"Uh, your eyes are blue and brown, not gold, you have a different haircut and you're older. Other than that you seem pretty similar, as long as you're still an idiot this dimension that is," alternate Alec replied, smirking at the end

"I guess some things never change, no matter what dimension you're in," Alec laughed, meeting Jace's affronted look with a smirk that was remarkably similar to the other Alec's

"Well I guess you're still a snarky bitch in every dimension too," Jace retorted

"I'm not your bitch," Alec smiled

"Language boys," Maryse reprimanded, pointing her finger at her children and showing off her voyance rune in the process. 

The rune seemed to catch the eye of the other Alec because he looked at it in confusion for a moment before saying. "You're still a Shadowhunter here,"

"Yes, I'm the Head of the New York Institute. Am I not in your dimension?" Maryse asked, her tone wary as she wondered what had happened to her in this other world. While the other Alec remembered this dimension's version of himself saying that his mother was the Head of the Institute, he had temporarily forgotten when he heard about Max's fate.

"You were de-runed, about a year ago. Because the Clave got scared when Valentine made his return and you were in the Circle. You have a bookshop now and actually seem pretty happy. Luke helped you a lot, are you together in this world?" the other Alec answered, unsure as to how she would take the news

Whatever surprise Maryse had been feeling at her other dimensional counterpart being de-runed was dwarfed by the implication that in their world her and Luke were in some kind of relationship. "Together... how do you mean? Luke is married to Jocelyn,"

"But Jocelyn..." the other Magnus began

"But Jocelyn what?" Jace questioned, clearly concerned for his girlfriend's mother

"Jocelyn was killed by a demon in our dimension," the other Magnus finished

"Oh," Jace looked shocked, he could only imagine the effect that would have had on Clary, "Is Clary ok?"

"Biscuit is fine, she needed some time to grieve but she made it through," the shorter Magnus said, something flickered in his eyes that suggested there was more to the event than he was letting on. However, no one questioned it as the alternate Alec and Magnus began to fade slightly, like they were being erased from their feet up.

"I think this is goodbye," Magnus said, pointing at the rapidly disappearing legs of his counterpart

"Yeah, don't take this the wrong way but I hope I don't see you again," Alec told his vanishing alternate self

"I was going to say that!" the other Alec laughed, "Bye then I guess,"

"Fair well," the other Magnus said and soon they had vanished, almost as if they had never been there at all.

"That was weird," Jace remarked

"No kidding," Alec replied, "And the worst part is they interrupted our day off!"

"About that... we kind of need you to help us with some demons in Central Park," Jace told the two sheepishly

Sighing Alec grabbed his bow and stele as Magnus made a portal, it seemed like no matter what dimension they were in they could never catch a break.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this! If you have any feedback I would love to hear it! Comments and kudos are adored (but you don't have to). I was thinking of writing an Outsider POV fic soon, would anyone be interested in reading that? It might be an OC seeing Malec doing something random or it could be Maryse's POV of the kiss in the Accords Hall, or I might do both ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> Until next time!  
> ~CrypticNotCoy


End file.
